Dear Cyndy,

Again, I'll essentially annotate your letter.

> "If you are really abandoning the English version,
> I shall have to be content with the abstracts you send.
> But don't neglect to send them."

It's a matter of priorities. When my mind is vacant, I keep busy
with translations into English.  Added up, the German texts stored
in my computer since 1983 would aggregate, believe it or not, 30
volumes of 300 pages each at 400 words per page. I'll never have
time to translate even a fraction. The two novels alone, to the
translations of which I would assign priority, amount, as of today
to 1700 pages. No one will ever read them.

When I'm manic and my head is buzzing with ideas and visions,
I expand the original German version. That's been the case yesterday
and today, when I see Charlotte trying to extricate herself from
the Doehring House and make herself independent especially of Mengs,
frustrated and angry at the cooking school nonsense, taking the law
into her own hands and trying to recover her non-refundable deposit
by stealing an equivalent amount of kitchenware. The school stole
from her, so she steals from the school. Isn't that justice?

I've also started to append to Chapter 52, a fourth dialogue, this
one centered on faith (Glaube) as being a model of idealization,
and doubt (Zweifel) as an example of de-idealization.  Admittedly,
that simplification is misleading. Theology and philosophy overlap.
Consider Spinoza, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard. Mengs and Joachim,
like myself, are fascinated by reflecting on the contrast between
Leibniz whose theology is integral to his philosophy, and Newton,
an equally passionate theologian, for whom philosophy (physics)
and theology occupied separate compartments of the mind. I have
Joachim quoting Nietzsche:

Also hat Nietzsche doch recht gehabt als er schrieb:
"Man hat nur das Wort Tübinger Stift auszusprechen,
um zu begreifen, was die deutsche Philosophie im Grunde ist, 
eine hinterlistige Theologie. "

Perhaps Nietzsche was correct after all when he wrote:
"One need only utter the words: Tuebinger Stift
to realize that in essence  German philosophy is
a devious theology."

Tuebinger Stift, (Tuebingen Foundation) is a Protestant
seminary whose notable alumni include Hoelderlin, Hegel
and Schelling.

> "You comment that there is spiritual value in being in love
> with a witch.  ??  What is the value, pray?  and for whom? 
> the witch or oneself?  Sounds more like masochism to me."
 
The spiritual value of being in love with a witch is that 
such love confers the ultimate immunity against scolding,
pillorying, burning the witch. It enables one to recognize
"that of God in every man (witch)". The value of course is
reciprocal to the lover and the beloved. You will agree
that it is far nobler to love a witch than to burn her at
the stake. Once you understand Isaiah you will understand
that being a witch oneself is the noblest of all.

And speaking of the spirit, I am intrigued by your comment about Lutheranism. Did your parents become Lutherans in Virginia?  I have spend 30 years of my professional life in a Lutheran institution.  I knew nothing of them before I arrived, didn't even know the various branches and what they professed.  Now I do, of course. While I have a lot of respect for them, and they certainly are rich in musical heritage, I find the texts a little suffocating.  I am reminded of a woman with whom I worked in the Advancement Office, who retired to Florida with her husband and joined a Unitarian church there.  "We're a little tired of Lutherans," she explained in a whisper.And most of my students (those who were Lutheran themselves) knew less about Luther and "justification by faith" than I did.  Probably were not forced to go to Sunday School. In fact the whole century of the Reformation and its heirs was a blank slate to them.  Made for interesting lectures in Western Civ.
 
I am doing laundry and gathering my wits and clothes for my journey on Thursday to Amherst to give Jane some relief from 24/7 nursing, and some support for her spirits.  I'll be back on Monday the 2nd, in time for dinner, and in plenty of time to hear the results of your hearing.  Don't forget to let me know, ok?
 
I send Katenus a Biblical quotation which I hope will not infuriate him (Let me know his reaction, please)
 
"The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (from somewhere in Corinthians, I think.  Doesn't it sound like St Paul?)
 
Best to you both,
Cyndy